Hazaar - The new zero waste marketplace for UK university students (Harriet Noy, BSc Ecomonics)

Hi! I’m Harriet, the founder of Hazaar. I’ve been wanting to start a blog for a while about my experiences as the founder of a new business. I want to be as open and honest as possible about my journey, and I hope that people learn from my blog. I think writing out my thoughts will benefit me as well as anyone else!

For those of you that haven’t heard of Hazaar: it’s an app I am creating that will give every university their own zero waste marketplace. App development is under way and it will go live after Christmas 2020. I can’t wait! But when I say it’s been a journey to get to where I am today, I am not joking. I am going to tell you everything, from when I first got the idea… to today. Get a cup of tea, it’s a long one!

So, let’s re-wind back to January 2020. My friend Sarah and I had set up ‘Plastic-free UOB’, a society working to reduce single-use plastic on our university campus (University of Birmingham). The response to our society was amazing, with an unbelievable amount of support from students and staff at UoB.

Then one day I got thinking… I live in a house of 10 girls, all of whom are part of sports teams. Every Tuesday night, we would order costumes from Amazon Prime for Sports Night the following night. Amazon packages come with excessive packaging, they aren’t cheap, and you’re always wondering if it will come in time. Ironically, someone two doors down the road probably had the same theme the week before, meaning that the same costumes we had ordered were lying on their bedroom floor, never to be worn again. With this issue in mind, we recognised that we needed to make a platform for students to buy and sell between each other. This would: (1) Reduce the volume of fast-fashion costumes being bought every week and (2) Reduce the pollution from ordering online by eliminating the need for excessive packaging and delivery. 

The following week we set up ‘Bepop’, a facebook marketplace for UoB students to buy and sell from one another other. Within a day we had 2k members; now we have over 4k. The day we went live, I felt a buzz through my body. I’ve always been interested in start-up companies, and this excited me. I spoke to friends at other universities – they had nothing like this. I thought okay… I can make this into a business. The Facebook marketplace was okay, but it had nothing on Depop. Students love Depop, so I thought “Why not make a Depop… but for students?” My main selling point was to eliminate the need for postage and packaging, thus promoting a far more sustainable business. My journey truly started here… Coming up with the idea is the easy part. Going from an idea to something ‘proper’ is bloody hard!

I spent the next week reaching out to my contacts in the start-up space, explaining my idea. In that week I made one contact who has been the most valuable of them all: Dan Turner. He believed in me from the get go, and has supported me through everything. Everyone NEEDS a mentor!

With no money and no experience, I was advised to collaborate with a computer science student and have them create my app. At the time, this seemed like a great idea. An app made for students, by students! Over time though, it became apparent this was not going to work.

It was manageable having one inexperienced entrepreneur (me)… but joining forces with another inexperienced party wasn’t going to work. Following this, a family friend approached me and proposed the two of us work together. This seemed ideal, as I would have someone more experienced than me leading the way. But again, this wasn’t right. We had differing opinions as to the direction we wanted the business to go in. My gut said no, so I followed it. Everyone thought I was an idiot turning down what seemed to be a great offer. Despite this, I knew it didn’t feel right to me. So, I walked away. Trust your gut.

Then, lockdown happened…

I was back home living with my parents and three younger siblings.

I still believed in my business, but had no app developer and no money. I spent days procrastinating with no idea what to do. I would be on the phone from 9am – 5pm every day with tech entrepreneurs. I was trying to learn all that I could. My parents would come home and ask me what I’d done with my day, laughing and asking: “When are you actually going to do something ‘proper’?” Whilst I knew it looked like I was achieving very little, I learnt so much during this period and built invaluable connections.

However, I was starting to feel the pressure. I had to make the most out of this lockdown, and desperately wanted my app to be ready for the return to uni in September. I thought, if I can’t get this done now, when will I? With no money and no technical experience in app development, I decided to try working with another computer science student. Once again, my plans fell through. I felt shit. For inspiration, I always listen to podcasts by some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. I remember listening to one lady who had developed a multi-million-pound company. This left me feeling even more deflated. I knew where I wanted to be, but didn’t have a clue how to get there.

I resigned myself to the fact that working with another student was not an option. I started getting quotes from app development companies. For the spec I was after, all of the quotes were coming back in the £20 – 40k region. As a student, this was totally unfeasible. What happened next had the potential to be my big break. I approached a friend of a friend, who is business partners with an app developer. 

He said his business partner could build my app for £10k. This was significantly cheaper than anyone else, so I jumped at the offer. However, there was a catch. The friend of a friend asked for £1K commission, as he had put me in touch with the app developer. In my excitement, I agreed! I would pay the app developer £10K to build the app, and pay his business partner £1K for introducing us. I didn’t have the money at the time, but I knew I could get it. I wasn’t sure how. But I would get it.

I looked into start-up loans… They scared me. When I told Dan I was looking into a loan, he said: “If you’re a real entrepreneur, you won’t use your own money. You’ll use someone else’s!” He went on to say, “If you can’t raise £10K, then it’s probably not a good idea anyway.”

GAME ON, I thought. That evening I said to my parents, “I’m going to raise £10K to develop my app.” My Dad laughed, as did my Mum. As did everyone else. I got to work making a pitch deck. My best friend Lila is really good at graphics; she knows just how to make things look good. The two of us worked tirelessly on the pitch deck, and had it perfected in a couple of weeks (we now cringe looking back as it was far from perfect). I sent the pitch deck out to anyone and everyone I’ve had a professional relationship with on Linkedin. A few people showed some interest, most people – as expected – showed no interest, some never replied. I didn’t find it demoralising though. I knew I would get this money! A couple of weeks after I sent the pitch deck out, I was sat in the garden with my parents on a Saturday morning. I picked up my phone and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had a LinkedIn message from a man I did work experience with in Year 10. The message said that he and his wife were interested in investing in my business, and that they’d believed in me from a young age. I was to pitch the idea to him and his wife next Tuesday, and go from there.

I screamed! My family were shocked and supportive beyond belief, but I didn’t want to get too excited. I knew I still had the pitch to get through. I’d been pitching the business to people most days for weeks on end, so I felt fairly confident (ish). But the stakes had never been this high. I pitched to them the following Tuesday and it went perfectly. They told me that they would love to invest. I was over the moon!

Then came a s*** storm. I raised my investment on the basis of a £10K app development cost. I completely forgot that I had promised the ‘friend of a friend’ £1K commission for putting me in touch with the app developer. I suddenly thought, why the f am I giving this guy £1K when he has hardly done anything for my business. What’s more, there had been indications that he was in it for himself and didn’t have my best interests at heart. He had asked to receive credit when we were awarded ‘Idea of the Year’ for Plastic-Free UOB, despite not having contributed to the creation of the society. I wasn’t getting a good vibe. So, I made the split-second decision that I wasn’t going to pay him the £1K anymore. I sent him a voice note to break the news.

Oh no Harriet, what have you done…

A week passed. My app developer and his business partner were ignoring me. They ghosted me for over a week. Bearing in mind that I had just raised money on the basis that I had an app developer building me an app for £10K, whom my investor had met and liked. Trust me when I say that this was one of the most anxious weeks of my life. I felt like I had ruined everything. The not knowing was the worst part. If they had just told me that they weren’t going to do it anymore, I could have dealt with it and moved on. But being ignored was driving me insane. I was super emotional and was having extreme thoughts that I’d ruined everything, that the business would never work, and that I’m a failure. My friends were trying to reassure me that maybe they were just busy, but I knew this wasn’t the case.

The following week I received an email from the app developer saying he was pulling out of Hazaar. I was devastated, because I really liked the developer. I knew that I had ruined this opportunity for myself. Nevertheless, I now knew where I stood, and I felt better. So… the hunt for a new app developer within my tiny budget began.

I spent all day Monday on calls with different app developers. I was speaking with freelancers, product studios, app development companies, the lot. I loved the idea of working with a product studio, but that was a bit out of budget. But I was feeling inspired once again. After a day of calls I texted Karen (my investor). She knew all about what had been going on, and had been feeling my anxiety and worry through my text messages and calls. I said, “I’ve had such an exciting day! It’s all happened for a reason and I know we’re going to find someone amazing to develop Hazaar.” What she said next to me was very important.

She agreed we would find someone, and that Hazaar was bound to be a success. But she followed with one of the most important pieces of advice I have ever received: “Harriet, you need to reflect on this situation. I think you have some important lessons to learn from this.” 

She was right. I should have discussed my predicament with a third party. I shouldn’t have freaked out and made an impulse decision. I know that in the future this could cost me far more than an app developer. I learnt that I need to take a breath, and sleep on decisions. Self-reflection is so important. I’m an avid listener of the ‘High Performance Podcast’ by Jake Humphrey. They always talk about taking 100% responsibility for everything in your life. I couldn’t agree with this more.

Fast forward to a month later. I had been talking with many different app developers. Finally, I found who I wanted to work with… I had connected with a lady called Natalie on LinkedIn. She had been posting about her involvement in testing the UX of new apps. As I was trying to design my own app, I reached out to her, thinking that I could get some tips from her. Little did I know that she had just set up her own business called ‘Niam Marketing’. They build tech products with marketing in mind from the start; instantly, I knew I wanted to work with her. I knew working with her was right for Hazaar. They were a bit out of my price budget, but with a cash/equity deal we made it work. Up until that point, I had been reluctant to give away equity. But to work with Niam, I knew it would be worth it. After they had been vetted by Andy Jones (another amazing mentor!), the process finally began.

We are now well into the app development. I am beyond impressed with the Niam team (Natalie, James & Yuna) – they are amazing. I’ve just launched all of our social media, which is super exciting and huge step for Hazaar! What’s more, the app is set to launch after Christmas!

Along the way, there has been all the boring stuff like sorting shareholder agreements, contracts, etc. Naively, I thought that this would be a quick job, but it can actually take months. You’re advised to use lawyers but being stingy and on a budget, I called upon family friends to help me out.

I couldn’t be where I am today with Hazaar if it wasn’t for the support from my amazing family, friends and mentors. They have had to listen to me talk about Hazaar nom-stop and help guide me through the rough patches, picking me up when I’ve been struggling. I’ve received nothing but belief and support from those closest to me, and I am so grateful for that.

Lila, thank you for basically being co-founder of Hazaar.

Lucy, thank you for being the most supportive best friend.

Family, thank you for putting up with my talking non-stop about Hazaar.

Lots of love, Harriet X

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